Virtual screening and computational simulation analysis of antimicrobial photodynamic therapy using propolis-benzofuran A to control of Monkeypox

BACKGROUND: Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease and there are no available treatments that specifically target the monkeypox virus. Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) is a non-invasive approach that has been introduced as a targeted adjuvant treatment against various microbial infections. In this study, we used a computational strategy to investigate the potential of aPDT using propolis-benzofuran A against the Monkeypox virus. METHODS: In this in silico study, the evaluation of drug-likeness, molecular properties, and bioactivity of propolis-benzofuran A was carried out using SwissADME. Pro-Tox II and OSIRIS servers were used to identify the organ toxicities and toxicological endpoints of propolis-benzofuran A. Molecular docking approach was employed to screen the potential binding modes of propolis-benzofuran A ligand with the Monkeypox virus A48R protein (PDB ID: 2V54). RESULTS: The results of the computational investigation revealed that propolis-benzofuran A obeyed all the criteria of Lipinski's rule of five and exhibited drug-likeness. The photosensitizing agent tested was categorized as toxicity class-5 and was found to be non-hepatotoxic, non-carcinogenic, non-mutagenic, and non-cytotoxic. The docking studies employing a predicted three-dimensional model of Monkeypox virus A48R protein with propolis-benzofuran A ligand exhibited good binding affinity (-7.84 kcal/mol). DISCUSSION: The computational simulation revealed that propolis-benzofuran A had a strong binding affinity with the Monkeypox virus A48R protein. Hence, aPDT based on this natural photosensitizer can be proposed as an adjuvant treatment against the Monkeypox virus.